The EMG-SA pickup combines the attributes of the early Strat sound but with an added midrange response and higher output, giving it bell-like ringing harmonics and increased sustain. One single Alnico bar magnet delivers classic overdrive with a smooth midrange distortion, while still retaining the familiar high end of a single-coil pickup. These characteristics provide greater versatility than what is normally found in single-coil pickups. The internal preamp rejects every bit of hum and buzz for noiseless operation. This is EMG's most popular pickup for Stratocaster-type guitars.

I had a Fender Squire strat - a very playable guitar with some less than stellar electronics. I decided to replace the stock setup with this complete kit. The difference in tone was unbelievable - I've swapped out many stock pickups in the past and have never had this type of tonal change in anything.

The only issue I had - and this isn't a fault of the kit - is that apparently the Squire's don't have the same amount of room under the pickguard that the real strat's do. I had to remove almost 1/2 an inch of wood from the cavity to make room for the pots and battery.

I know there are a lot of people out there that do not like Active pickups and i have no idea why. I recently built a custom Strat and got a set of Seymour Duncan YJM Fury pickups. I paid almost twice compared to the EMG's and they were horrible. I love Yngwie but these were very week. All my other guitars have EMG so I figured I'd keep with it and ordered these beauties. Amazing is all I can tell you. I can get any sound out of these including Yngwie, which ironiclly I couldn't with his signature pickups. EMG all the way... I'll never go back to passive.

Great pick- ups. My 2012 american strat sounded good before, now its incredible. Easy to install, no bodywork required to fit the battery. For those unsure or skeptical about active pick ups and thinking they will give you a sterile sound, rest assured, these sound amazing

I learnt to play piano at seven and, via the Baroque-recorder (classical) and penny-whistle (folk), added guitar (rock/folk/grunge) when I was 13.My first three guitars were well-used rejects from, suddenly poor, friends: a Strat-copy; a badly-butchered cheapo; and a usable Strat-neck and I learnt how to repair and 'enhance' these.After many years of my playing, my Mum died - not because of me, AFAIK! and I used some of my inheritance to start a fledgeling luthier business.The plan was to build six Strats then six Gibson SG copies in the first year and sell these to fund the growth of the business.The EMG-SA Single Coil Active Guitar Pick-up is, by far, the best I have used.The 'night-burst' effect is my Gothy equivalent of 'Sunburst' but the only spray-paint aerosols I could find (afford) were blues!

First of all I am extremely pleased with these pickups. They transformed my okay barely tolerable strat into an instrument that is very pleasurable to play. The quick connects are phenomenal. My only complaint is that the cables are just long enough and do not accommodate left handed players of which I am one. It took me awhile but I figured out how to get it all installed without having to use longer wires. That said, after plugging my guitar in I was very pleased. I cranked the gain and got as much distortion out of my amp as possible. There was absolutely no hum. The pups do exactly what I want,. I can get whatever sound I want out of these single coil pups and don't have to worry about that annoying hum.

I just installed my SAs, and all I can say is "wow!" Absolutely perfect sound, no hum or buzz. My Strat has never sounded so good. I can get an almost limitless variety of sound, from sweet screamin' leads to deep and growly rhythm, and just about anything in between. However, I only gave it a 4.0 on quality for two reasons: when I got my set, it only came with 5 pickup springs. This wasn't too big of a deal because I just stacked two of the old rubber ones and it worked perfectly. the other issue I had is that, since I'm a lefty, all the knobs are backwards, and they're a pain to flip from one side to the other when installing them. I had to re-solder a wire so the knobs would fit in their spots.You will be absolutely impressed with these pickups, no matter what you play! That is, if you get all the parts!

I am a huge David Gilmour fan and have been interested in EMG's because of him but never upgraded my strat pickups because:1) I don't consider myself a guitar tech capable of wiring it up without a lot of noise or worse problems.2) I didn't think the money would make that much of a difference...I was completely wrong. The pickup set comes pre-wired....I think I only made one soldering joint. That was it! I was done in no time! I plugged it in and expected a little noise to let me know I was live but nothing...Not a sound. No hum, nothing. I strummed a chord and it was pure tonal heaven. A strat just can't be this quiet. Unbelievable. I found my tone. My solos cut through the mix. The response is just beautiful. I love these pickups. Worth more than they cost, for sure. But now I gotta soup up my les paul!

I have owned these pickups for about three years or so and have only changed the batteries once a year. I love them. you can get any tone at any time! David Gilmour, Jimi Hendrix, SRV, Clapton, John Mayer, ect... These are it man!! Look no further for your pickups. My 98' usa stratocaster has never sounded better. not even with kinmans and fralins. these sound sweet. run through tube amps to get best sound... wait for it...not yet...oh yeah...DUHHHHH!!!!! I love em and so will you!! GETEM BEFORE YOU FALL VICTIM TO BAD TONE!

I bought these to match my EMG 85 active humbucker. I have them on my strat HSS and theyre OKAY. The neck position gets great highs-mids-lows and with the gain you can really crank out some awesome tone, sounds very hot. The mid on the other hand is useless at lower levels, I really have to tweak the gains on my marshall to get some sound out of them. Disappointing from an active pickup. I was happy that I could still retain the classic strat sound and then really kick it up when needed, just wished there was more output from the middle pickup.